The present invention relates to a fitting and comfort system for a helmet, such as a football helmet, and more particularly features an inflatable liner and its relationship to the helmet that provides substantially enhanced fitting capability, and elimination of lift of the helmet during inflation of the liner and upon impact, along with increased comfort for the user.
The technology and science of improving the impact attenuation in helmets, and more particularly in a football helmet, has experienced substantial strides in the past two decades. Coupled with impact attenuation, there have been some attempts to improve the fit and comfort of the helmet in order to improve the quality of enjoyment of the game for the players. However, it is generally accepted that the fitting and comfort system development has fallen behind the technology involving the impact attenuation and absorption features.
A typical early approach to improving the impact characteristics of a football helmet are illustrated in several prior patents, including the patent to Schulz issued on Sep. 8, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,613. As illustrated in this patent, the web suspension and resilient padding, as best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, provides basic protection and impact attenuation for the user.
Typically, to provide the fit and comfort functions, air inflatable chambers are provided on the sides of the head and across the crown, as illustrated (see also FIG. 7). Additional impact attenuation/absorbing materials are provided around the back of the user""s head, typically utilizing liquid filled chambers. While this approach to fit, comfort and impact attenuation was successful at the time, it has been improved over the past two decades to the level that now notably appears in applicant""s own issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,850, issued Apr. 24, 2001.
As can be noted, the shape of the fit/comfort inflatable liner of the system (see FIGS. 7 and 8 of the ""850 patent) is substantially similar to the corresponding system in the ""613 patent. The inflatable liner is designed to extend in two separate components around the sides and with a cross-over in the center over the top or crown of the head. Just as in the ""613 patent, this provision of inflatable members positioned in the top of the helmet and extending over the crown of the head of the user causes difficulty, most notably in creating lift effect during fitting and a bounce effect upon the helmet receiving an impact. While not sufficient to cause the helmet to release from the head, the bounce and lifting of the helmet from the head provides substantial discomfort to the user thus a change in the basic design is desirable.
Accordingly, it is contemplated to be a substantial advantage for a new fitting and comfort system for a helmet to eliminate the cross over that heretofore has been positioned across the crown of the head of the user and that connects the two side components together. With this top component eliminated, the inflatable fitting/comfort liner should not cause the helmet to rise up on the user""s head during the fitting operation, or upon impact. In other words, with the cross over connection eliminated, there is nothing to inflate between the helmet and the crown of the user""s head and thus the deleterious rise and bounce effect can be eliminated.
Furthermore, without the crown crossover component, the inflatable liner remains in place better during cleaning of the sweat and dirt that inevitably appears around the liner. This crossover component tends to catch on cleaning towels and rags, as well as on the trainer""s hands during the cleaning operation, and tends to cause partial removal of the liner.
In addition to advancing the technology in terms of the operation of the inflatable liner that forms the fitting and comfort system, it is also desirable to have a reduction in size and complexity of the liner, and thus a reduction in the tooling and manufacturing costs. It is also desirable to simplify the shape of the inflatable liner which adds additional emphasis to the reduction and cost from prior approaches.
Considering the above shortcomings of the past development of a fitting and comfort system for helmets, such as for football helmets, the present invention provides a system having a shock attenuating member forming the inside of the helmet, and an inflatable liner assembly extending solely around the inside of the member from adjacent one side of the user""s head around the back under the occipital protuberance of the head and back adjacent to the opposite side. Most notably, there is no cross over component that extends over the top or crown of the user""s head, so that the problem of the helmet rising during inflation, or the bounce factor upon experiencing an impact, is eliminated. Advantageously, the liner includes a substantially continuous upper elongated cell formed by a flexible membrane engaging the head to create an upper band of engagement when inflated. A lower cell extends substantially parallel and forms a lower band of engagement with the sides of the user""s head for additional snug, holding action. The cells are coupled adjacent at least one end of the membrane, and preferably at both ends, to form a continuous inflation path. The uninterrupted bands of the upper and lower cells generate separate holding forces that ensure a snug fit of the helmet under all foreseeable conditions. To provide the inflation of the system, a valve communicates with at least one of the cells.
The two cells of the inflatable liner of the present invention are substantially the same length. However, in the preferred embodiment, the lower cell is interrupted in the middle by a divider. In either case, the flow path during inflation by pressurized air is in one direction along the upper cell and in the opposite direction along the lower cell. The single inlet valve in the lower cell adjacent the divider is utilized to inflate the entire length of the cells and form the two continuous holding bands engaging the sides and back of the user""s head.
The inflatable liner preferably includes a relatively stiff backing sheet that forms the surface of the liner positioned adjacent the shock attenuation member in the helmet. Fasteners, such as prongs that are inserted between elements of the shock attenuating member are used to maintain the inflatable liner securely in place. Since the liner is one continuous, preferably a shallow, wave-like form when laid out flat, and there is no crossover component that extends up into the top of the helmet, cleaning of the helmet during use is considerably easier than in the past.
In the preferred method of forming the inflatable liner, so as to be not only more effective in use, but also lower in cost, heat sealing elements are used to form a bead around the perimeter sealing the liner membrane to the backing sheet. A center divider heating element forms the center line bead along approximately the center of the cells to complete the liner assembly. The fasteners are also heat sealed to the backing sheet at spaced locations along the center line bead. It is also desirable to provide restricted bleed passages for controlled air transfer between the cells as needed during impact for balance of the holding forces between the upper and lower bands.